The Reserve

Hennebery Eddy crafted an extensive renovation of Pietro Belluschi’s International Style building in downtown Portland. Originally constructed as a Federal Reserve Bank building in 1950, the transfer to private ownership required a complete analysis of all building systems and code compliance, along with new energy-efficient heating and lighting systems. The Reserve renovation and expansion complemented the original building’s simple forms, clean lines, limited materials, and restrained detailing while creating a transparent and accessible entrance, new lobby, and a new 8,000-square-foot penthouse.

“Hennebery Eddy’s restoration of the landmark Pietro Belluschi-designed federal building in downtown Portland […] gave the building new life even as it honored the beautiful and historic original structure.”

— Brian Libby, Journalist & Architecture Critic

The goals of this project were to rehabilitate and adaptively reuse the bank while preserving its modernist traits, to transform its closed-off character into a more transparent composition in order to better address the surrounding urban and pedestrian context, and to create highly desirable office space.

Set back from the building’s edge to reduce its presence, the all-glass penthouse wraps its way around the existing rooftop structures, unifying the roof and establishing a transformative composition and new energy for the building.

Glass insertions and additions open the façade break up the solidity and reduce the mass of the blank west elevation.